Midnight train to the Junction

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Just like Rodney Dangerfield, the state of Nebraska gets no respect. No respect at all. At least, not from Amtrak.

Two Amtrak trains cross the length of Nebraska every day — one eastbound and one westbound. But the California Zephyr, rolling swiftly between San Francisco and Chicago, never sees the light of day in Cornhusker country. The eastbound Zephyr crosses over the Colorado-Nebraska line around 9 p.m., generally just after sunset, arrives in Omaha around 5 a.m., and then crosses into Iowa just before dawn.

The westbound Zephyr cruises into Omaha from Iowa around 11 p.m., crosses the state, and slips into Colorado well before 5 a.m. Thus, Zephyr passengers never get to see any of Nebraska’s farmlands, prairies or famous sandhills in daylight.

This schedule is understandable, of course, because it allows the Zephyr to cross spectacular Colorado in daylight in both directions. And if given the choice, even Nebraskans would balk at traversing the grandeur of the Colorado Rockies in the dark.

But this also requires some red-eye traveling for Amtrak passengers coming in and out of Nebraska towns and cities. Thus, boarding the train in Lincoln, Neb., bound for Grand Junction, Colo., required catching the midnight train out of town. More precisely, a 12:14 a.m. departure.

Surprisingly, waiting for the train (even when it’s 20 minutes late) at midnight is not really a lonely experience. Lots of people travel by train, and when you’re using public transportation of any kind, you’re traveling on their schedule.

“Ahh ... you’re going to the Junction,” observed the conductor as he scanned my ticket with an easy assurance that implied I would be among friends. “Car 611,” he said, handing me a seat number and pointing the way.

Traveling at night can be a bit of a bummer. There’s nothing to see, and most of your fellow passengers are either sleeping or attempting to do so. The cafe and dining cars are closed until 6 a.m., and no announcements are made in order to observe a “quiet time.” But there is always something going on.

Around 3 a.m., the train pulls into Hastings, Neb., and a large tour group comes aboard. At 3 o’clock in the morning? Why? Because that’s when the train gets there. I talked to a couple of these folks the next morning in the dining car. Their group was headed for Reno, Nev., where they would be transferred onto buses for a tour of national parks on the west coast. Eventually, they would be flying back to Nebraska from California. All in all, it sounded like a pretty exciting adventure, even it did mean losing a lot of sleep at the outset.

Meeting folks on trains is one of the really enjoyable aspects of rail travel. The passing parade reveals some diverse and interesting travelers. I met a retired school teacher from California, who travels cross-country twice a year to visit her daughter and son-in-law in New Jersey. She always goes by train.

“I have a fear of flying,” she acknowledged. “When I was still teaching, I would grit my teeth and fly anyway, because I wanted to travel during the summer.” In her younger days, she flew to Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East. “Those trips are all in the past,” she said. “Now I don’t have to be in a hurry to get where I’m going.”

Then there was the college student — an anthropology and history major at prestigious Northwestern University in Chicago. What did we talk about? Why, college football, of course. Northwestern had a really good season last year.

And there was the semi-retired memorabilia dealer and collector, a New York State native now living in Harrisburg, Pa., whose personal treasures include a collection of original Elvis Presley 45 rpm records, as well as 45s of other Sun Records rock ’n’ roll legends like Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. Well-versed in sports memorabilia like baseball cards, he was even familiar with long-ago Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies stars like Roy Sievers, Gus Zernial, Eddie Joost and Bobby Shantz. We could have gone on for hours just talking about old time rock ’n’ roll and baseball.

Nighttime in Nebraska? About the only thing you’ll see out the window are those massive grain elevators that line the tracks at every small town along the route. But eventually, the Zephyr gets to Colorado and arrives in Denver with the rising sun. And everything changes.

The westbound California Zephyr pulls out of Denver around 8 a.m., and the fun begins almost immediately. It’s two hours to the first stop, the ski resort destination of Fraser-Winter Park. Fifteen minutes out of Denver, the train begins climbing up through Colorado’s famous Front Range and the tunnel district.

The Zephyr only averages about 30 miles per hour across Colorado due to the many steep inclines and sharp curves through the mountains. The train slithers like a great snake over, around and through the Rockies.

The tunnel district is a fabulous experience. In a single 30-mile stretch, the train goes through 27 mountain tunnels. Most of them are fairly short, but those 27 tunnels include the awesome Moffat Tunnel — more than six miles long, the longest railroad tunnel in the Western Hemisphere at the time of its construction and still one of the most famous tunnels in the world.

The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide about 50 miles west of Denver near the town of Rollinsville. It was built in the 1920s so that trains could bypass the dangerous and expensive Rollins Pass, which climbs to 11,660 feet. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel’s first railroad traffic passed through in February 1928. For the record, the tunnel is 24 feet high, 18 feet wide and 6.2 miles long, and it is located 9,239 feet above sea level.

The tunnel took 48 months to bore, an average of 21 feet per day. A small pilot tunnel was bored parallel to the main tunnel to facilitate the work, and that small tunnel later became an aqueduct, which delivers a portion of Denver’s water supply.

It takes about 12 minutes for the train to travel through the Moffat Tunnel, and passengers are not allowed to move from car to car during this time. It has nothing to do with visibility. It’s just that opening car doors in the tunnel could allow diesel fumes to get inside.

This portion of the trip may be the best time to take in the view from the Observation Deck atop the cafe car. The train winds in and out of numerous tunnels, and each time it emerges from the darkness, there are gasps and exclamations of delight. “Wow! Look at that!” “Ohhh ... isn’t that beautiful?”

As the Observation Deck is always located in the middle of the train, you can look forward as the Zephyr rolls around a bend to see the front of the train; then look over your shoulder to observe the tail end. Sometimes, you can emerge from a tunnel and see the engine ahead about to enter another one while the trailing cars are still in the tunnel behind.

It is only 13 miles from Fraser-Winter Park to the town of Granby, but with all the twists and turns, it takes the Zephyr half an hour to get there. Granby is a gateway town for Rocky Mountain National Park. At Granby, the rail line meets the Colorado River, flowing energetically out of the national park, where it begins.

For the next 300 miles, the river and the railroad tracks will keep each other company, the longest stretch of any passenger rail line in America running parallel to a major river. Sometimes, the river is on the right side; sometimes, it is on the left; but it is always in full view, peacefully flowing along at times, and sometimes surging with whitewater and dangerous rapids.

Not far from Granby, I spotted a young woman with a fishing rod standing knee-deep in the river. Her dog, possibly a chocolate labrador, was standing patiently by her side. They seemed to be in fisherman’s heaven. A little farther down the river, a lone kayaker slipped along peacefully though a deeper portion of the river that flowed a bit more gently. Later on, there would be numerous groups of whitewater rafters waving enthusiastically as the Zephyr passed by.

There are only two more stops in Colorado along this long stretch of verdant mountain valleys and pine forests. The train travels through spectacular Glenwood Canyon, right alongside Interstate 70, the most expensive stretch of highway in America. The trip through the canyon is so awe-inspiring that you want the engineer to back it up and do it all over again.

But as you exit Glenwood Canyon, you reach the fairy tale-like town of Glenwood Springs. The old Victorian railroad station is right across from the historic Glenwood Hot Springs, with the churning Colorado River running between them.

Glenwood Springs is the jumping off point for skiers going to the resort town of Aspen, but it is also a resort destination unto itself. Wyatt Earp’s dentist friend Doc Holliday, who famously succumbed to tuberculosis and not bullet wounds, is buried in Glenwood Springs.

The next stop, another two hours down the line, is Grand Junction, Colo., the largest city (population, 58,704) between Denver and Salt Lake City. But the Zephyr also sounds its whistle for towns like Silt (whose leading tourist attraction is a tree growing out of a silo), Rifle (home of two very popular state parks), Parachute (site of a notorious train robbery), and Palisade (known for its wineries).

In cooperation with the National Park Service, volunteer rangers from the Intermountain Regional Office provide a narrative between Denver and Grand Junction Thursdays through Sundays from Memorial Day through the end of September. It’s known as the Trails and Rails Program.

Grand Junction is the perfect spot to get off the train, rent a car and hit the road. Just down the road is magnificent Colorado National Monument. Moab, Utah, and the awesome Canyonlands is only two hours to the west. Dinosaur National Monument is to the north, up the Dinosaur Diamond National Scenic Byway. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is to the south. East is Aspen, Vail and Steamboat Springs, a few of Colorado’s magical ski resorts.

The Zephyr certainly is no ill wind. It has carried me into the middle of my very own Oz. Like Dorothy and Toto, I know I’m not in Kansas. Or Nebraska.

Next: Blooming Yampa Valley.

Way Stations

Amtrak has a wide variety of ticketing options, including SmartFares, Multi-Ride tickets, Multi-City tickets and three different kinds of USA Rail Passes. And, of course, there are group travel discounts, Regional Rail Tour packages, Amtrak Vacations and other passenger discount offers.

Be aware, however, that some of these options involve sur charges. Read the small print carefully before making your purchase. Upgrades are also available in some cases to Business Class or First Class, or to sleeping accommodations like Bedrooms or Roomettes. Be aware, also, that some of these upgrades involve a price tag that may incur severe sticker shock. Look before you leap.

Amtrak also has a Guest Rewards Program that allows frequent travelers to redeem points for free Amtrak travel.